Nobody could ever accuse the WSJ’s Jon Hilsenrath of breaching the FOMC embargo, which is why we were delighted to see that he waited a whole 7 minutes before releasing his 601 word summary of what the Fed really said.

Note the timestamp:

The turbo fast written piece, which incidentally says nothing new and once again merely parrots convention wisdom, is below:

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held steady on its signature $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program and gave few new signals on when officials expect to pull back on the program or how they see the economic outlook changing.

The Fed’s policy-making committee showed itself to be effectively in a wait-and-see mode on the bond program, leaving investors in a continued guessing game about the path of a Fed policy that has been an important driver of asset prices and interest rates.

In June, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said he expected the Fed to start pulling back this year, but with only one more Fed policy meeting in December before year-end, that now looks less certain.

“[T]he Committee decided to await more evidence that progress will be sustained before adjusting the pace of its purchases,” the Fed said in its statement Wednesday, repeating language it used in September.

The Fed made very few changes to its description of current economic conditions. It said that the economy “continued to expand at a moderate pace,” and labor markets “have shown some further improvement.” The Fed acknowledged that the “recovery in the housing sector slowed somewhat in recent months,” one of the most notables change it made in its statement.

In September, the Fed had said that labor markets had shown “further improvement” and the housing sector was “strengthening.”

The Fed also removed references from the September statement to higher mortgage rates and tighter financial conditions.

Fed officials surprised markets at their September meeting when they decided not to cut their bond purchases after months of talk that they could start scaling back by year-end. The program is aimed at pushing down long-term interest rates to spur hiring, investment and spending.

With mortgage rates rising and a potential government shutdown and fight over raising the nation’s borrowing limit on the horizon, Fed officials said at the September meeting that they wanted to see more evidence that the economy can sustain its progress before cutting the bond-buying program.

A standoff over the federal budget led to a 16-day government shutdown that ended Oct. 17, injecting new uncertainty into the economy and damaging consumer confidence. The shutdown is expected to muddy some economic data through the end of the year. The Fed says its decisions are “data-dependent,” meaning it is basing them on how the economy develops. The most recent jobs report showed disappointing employment growth in September.

Nine out of 10 Fed officials voted to keep the bond-buying program steady on Wednesday. Kansas City Fed President Esther George continued her streak of dissenting by voting against the committee’s action because she thought the Fed’s easy-money policies could create financial instability and excessive inflation. Ms. George has dissented at all seven policy meetings this year.

The Fed also voted to keep short-term interest rates pinned near zero, where they’ve been since late 2008. Officials didn’t make any changes to so-called forward guidance, which are the statements made about the likely path of interest-rate policy.

All seven Fed governors vote at every policy meeting, as does the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, William Dudley. Only five Fed governors attended this meeting. Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin is not participating in policy meetings in light of her pending nomination to be the next deputy Treasury secretary. The seat left empty by Elizabeth Duke in August has not been filled.

The presidents of the 11 other regional Fed banks vote on a rotating basis. This year, in addition to Ms. George, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Fed President James Bullard can vote.

–LITTLE CHANGE IN THE ASSESSMENT OF THE ECONOMY: The housing sector has “slowed somewhat,” the Fed said. That’s a downgrade from September when officials said it had been strengthening. The labor market had shown “some further improvement,” the Fed said, an ever-so-slight downgrade from the “further improvement” the Fed noted in September. On net, very little change in how officials see the economy performing.

–FINANCIAL CONDITIONS IMPROVING: The Fed dropped its reference to financial conditions having tightened in recent months, as it noted in September. That’s a nod of approval to rising stock prices and the recent drop in long-term interest rates. The Fed also removed a reference to its concern about higher mortgage rates, which have dropped since the last meeting.

–STILL AN EYE ON TAPERING: The Fed retained language it used in September which suggested officials had an eye on pulling back from their bond buying program if the economy improved. It noted “underlying strength” in the broader economy and said it chose to “await more evidence” on the economy’s performance before adjusting the bond-buying program.

Taken together, the Fed isn’t taking a December adjustment to the bond-buying program off the table. But that comes with the strong caveat that it depends on whether the economy is living up to its expectations. As part of that assessment, Fed officials will be updating their economic forecasts in December and will need to make a judgment about whether their projection of accelerating economic growth in 2014 is likely to be met.

Nobody could ever accuse the WSJ’s Jon Hilsenrath of breaching the FOMC embargo, which is why we were delighted to see that he waited a whole 7 minutes before releasing his 601 word summary of what the Fed really said.

Note the timestamp:

The turbo fast written piece, which incidentally says nothing new and once again merely parrots convention wisdom, is below:

The Federal Reserve on Wednesday held steady on its signature $85 billion-a-month bond-buying program and gave few new signals on when officials expect to pull back on the program or how they see the economic outlook changing.

The Fed’s policy-making committee showed itself to be effectively in a wait-and-see mode on the bond program, leaving investors in a continued guessing game about the path of a Fed policy that has been an important driver of asset prices and interest rates.

In June, Fed Chairman Ben Bernanke said he expected the Fed to start pulling back this year, but with only one more Fed policy meeting in December before year-end, that now looks less certain.

“[T]he Committee decided to await more evidence that progress will be sustained before adjusting the pace of its purchases,” the Fed said in its statement Wednesday, repeating language it used in September.

The Fed made very few changes to its description of current economic conditions. It said that the economy “continued to expand at a moderate pace,” and labor markets “have shown some further improvement.” The Fed acknowledged that the “recovery in the housing sector slowed somewhat in recent months,” one of the most notables change it made in its statement.

In September, the Fed had said that labor markets had shown “further improvement” and the housing sector was “strengthening.”

The Fed also removed references from the September statement to higher mortgage rates and tighter financial conditions.

Fed officials surprised markets at their September meeting when they decided not to cut their bond purchases after months of talk that they could start scaling back by year-end. The program is aimed at pushing down long-term interest rates to spur hiring, investment and spending.

With mortgage rates rising and a potential government shutdown and fight over raising the nation’s borrowing limit on the horizon, Fed officials said at the September meeting that they wanted to see more evidence that the economy can sustain its progress before cutting the bond-buying program.

A standoff over the federal budget led to a 16-day government shutdown that ended Oct. 17, injecting new uncertainty into the economy and damaging consumer confidence. The shutdown is expected to muddy some economic data through the end of the year. The Fed says its decisions are “data-dependent,” meaning it is basing them on how the economy develops. The most recent jobs report showed disappointing employment growth in September.

Nine out of 10 Fed officials voted to keep the bond-buying program steady on Wednesday. Kansas City Fed President Esther George continued her streak of dissenting by voting against the committee’s action because she thought the Fed’s easy-money policies could create financial instability and excessive inflation. Ms. George has dissented at all seven policy meetings this year.

The Fed also voted to keep short-term interest rates pinned near zero, where they’ve been since late 2008. Officials didn’t make any changes to so-called forward guidance, which are the statements made about the likely path of interest-rate policy.

All seven Fed governors vote at every policy meeting, as does the president of the Federal Reserve Bank of New York, William Dudley. Only five Fed governors attended this meeting. Governor Sarah Bloom Raskin is not participating in policy meetings in light of her pending nomination to be the next deputy Treasury secretary. The seat left empty by Elizabeth Duke in August has not been filled.

The presidents of the 11 other regional Fed banks vote on a rotating basis. This year, in addition to Ms. George, Chicago Fed President Charles Evans, Boston Fed President Eric Rosengren and Fed President James Bullard can vote.

–LITTLE CHANGE IN THE ASSESSMENT OF THE ECONOMY: The housing sector has “slowed somewhat,” the Fed said. That’s a downgrade from September when officials said it had been strengthening. The labor market had shown “some further improvement,” the Fed said, an ever-so-slight downgrade from the “further improvement” the Fed noted in September. On net, very little change in how officials see the economy performing.

–FINANCIAL CONDITIONS IMPROVING: The Fed dropped its reference to financial conditions having tightened in recent months, as it noted in September. That’s a nod of approval to rising stock prices and the recent drop in long-term interest rates. The Fed also removed a reference to its concern about higher mortgage rates, which have dropped since the last meeting.

–STILL AN EYE ON TAPERING: The Fed retained language it used in September which suggested officials had an eye on pulling back from their bond buying program if the economy improved. It noted “underlying strength” in the broader economy and said it chose to “await more evidence” on the economy’s performance before adjusting the bond-buying program.

Taken together, the Fed isn’t taking a December adjustment to the bond-buying program off the table. But that comes with the strong caveat that it depends on whether the economy is living up to its expectations. As part of that assessment, Fed officials will be updating their economic forecasts in December and will need to make a judgment about whether their projection of accelerating economic growth in 2014 is likely to be met.

Despite what the talking heads continue to spew to justify all-time high stock market valuations, the 'fact' is that year-to-date, US Macro data has now performed the worst of all global macro indices. Furthermore, the pace of collapse in the last 4-weeks is the fastest in 8 months. What is perhaps most ironic is that US Macro peaked at the last FOMC meeting (when the Fed decided that data was not supportive enough to Taper) so any surprise today simply supports the fact that the Fed's decision is anything but fundamentally driven (and instead perhaps driven by the four 'bad' reasons for a tapering.)

US Macro has fallen to the worst performer year-to-date… (andnote when the un-Taper decision was made – at 'peak' macro)…

Collapsing at its fastest in 8 months (and note that each successive peak since the recession has seen lower highs – as the wealth effect or stimulus effects have become less and less)…

So any surprise decision or wording change today can only be driven by one (or more) of the following four ;bad' reasons:

3. Sentiment is critical; if the public starts to believe (as Kyle Bass warned) that the central bank is monetizing the government's debt (which it clearly is), then the game accelerates away from them very quickly – and we suspect they fear we are close to that tipping point

Simply put, they are cornered and need to Taper; no matter how bad the macro data and we are sure 'trends' and longer-term horizons will come to their rescue in defending the prime dealers' clear agreement that it is time…

Despite what the talking heads continue to spew to justify all-time high stock market valuations, the 'fact' is that year-to-date, US Macro data has now performed the worst of all global macro indices. Furthermore, the pace of collapse in the last 4-weeks is the fastest in 8 months. What is perhaps most ironic is that US Macro peaked at the last FOMC meeting (when the Fed decided that data was not supportive enough to Taper) so any surprise today simply supports the fact that the Fed's decision is anything but fundamentally driven (and instead perhaps driven by the four 'bad' reasons for a tapering.)

US Macro has fallen to the worst performer year-to-date… (andnote when the un-Taper decision was made – at 'peak' macro)…

Collapsing at its fastest in 8 months (and note that each successive peak since the recession has seen lower highs – as the wealth effect or stimulus effects have become less and less)…

So any surprise decision or wording change today can only be driven by one (or more) of the following four ;bad' reasons:

3. Sentiment is critical; if the public starts to believe (as Kyle Bass warned) that the central bank is monetizing the government's debt (which it clearly is), then the game accelerates away from them very quickly – and we suspect they fear we are close to that tipping point

Simply put, they are cornered and need to Taper; no matter how bad the macro data and we are sure 'trends' and longer-term horizons will come to their rescue in defending the prime dealers' clear agreement that it is time…

In the latest blow, and a new low, for the US spying agency, earlier today Italian magazine Panorama blasted a preview of an article due for publication tomorrow, with the simple premise: “NSA had tapped the pope.” According to a Reuters report, the “spy agency had eavesdropped on Vatican phone calls, possibly including when former Pope Benedict’s successor was under discussion, but the Holy See said it had no knowledge of any such activity. Panorama magazine said that among 46 million phone calls followed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) in Italy from December 10, 2012, to January 8, 2013, were conversations in and out of the Vatican.” But while it is unclear just what divine information the NSA had hoped to uncover by spying on the Vatican, what is an absolute headbanger, is that according to Panorama one of the reasons for the illegal wiretaps was to be abreast of “threats to the financial system.” We can only assume this means keeping on top of Goldman’s activities around the globe: after all, when one intercepts god’s phone calls, one is mostly interested what the bank that does god’s will is doing.

Asked to comment on the report, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said: “We are not aware of anything on this issue and in any case we have no concerns about it.”

Media reports based on revelations from Edward Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. intelligence operative granted asylum in Russia, have said the NSA had spied on French citizens over the same period in December in January.

Panorama said the recorded Vatican phone calls were catalogued by the NSA in four categories – leadership intentions, threats to the financial system, foreign policy objectives and human rights.

Benedict resigned on February 28 this year and his successor, Pope Francis, was elected on March 13.

“It is feared” that calls were listened to up until the start of the conclave that elected Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, Panorama said.

The magazine said there was also a suspicion that the Rome residence where some cardinals lived before the conclave, including the future pope, was monitored.

Cue another US ambassador being summoned by an “ally” country, more questions about just what US taxpayer funds are being spent on, more public indignation, and even more bad will (if that is even possible) toward the great, globalist US superstate that is no longer accountable to anyone but itself and a few select oligarchs.

In the latest blow, and a new low, for the US spying agency, earlier today Italian magazine Panorama blasted a preview of an article due for publication tomorrow, with the simple premise: “NSA had tapped the pope.” According to a Reuters report, the “spy agency had eavesdropped on Vatican phone calls, possibly including when former Pope Benedict’s successor was under discussion, but the Holy See said it had no knowledge of any such activity. Panorama magazine said that among 46 million phone calls followed by the U.S. National Security Agency (NSA) in Italy from December 10, 2012, to January 8, 2013, were conversations in and out of the Vatican.” But while it is unclear just what divine information the NSA had hoped to uncover by spying on the Vatican, what is an absolute headbanger, is that according to Panorama one of the reasons for the illegal wiretaps was to be abreast of “threats to the financial system.” We can only assume this means keeping on top of Goldman’s activities around the globe: after all, when one intercepts god’s phone calls, one is mostly interested what the bank that does god’s will is doing.

Asked to comment on the report, Vatican spokesman Father Federico Lombardi said: “We are not aware of anything on this issue and in any case we have no concerns about it.”

Media reports based on revelations from Edward Snowden, the fugitive former U.S. intelligence operative granted asylum in Russia, have said the NSA had spied on French citizens over the same period in December in January.

Panorama said the recorded Vatican phone calls were catalogued by the NSA in four categories – leadership intentions, threats to the financial system, foreign policy objectives and human rights.

Benedict resigned on February 28 this year and his successor, Pope Francis, was elected on March 13.

“It is feared” that calls were listened to up until the start of the conclave that elected Francis, the former Cardinal Jorge Mario Bergoglio of Argentina, Panorama said.

The magazine said there was also a suspicion that the Rome residence where some cardinals lived before the conclave, including the future pope, was monitored.

Cue another US ambassador being summoned by an “ally” country, more questions about just what US taxpayer funds are being spent on, more public indignation, and even more bad will (if that is even possible) toward the great, globalist US superstate that is no longer accountable to anyone but itself and a few select oligarchs.

In the last of this week’s auctions, the Treasury just sold another $29 billion in 7 Year paper, which priced through the When Issued 1.873%, at 1.870%, the lowest yield since May, and at a Bid to Cover of 2.66, substantially higher than the 2.46 in September, and above the trailing twelve month average yield of 2.61%, once again reversing the recent trend in declining BTCs seen recently in both the 2 and the 5 Year auctions. And while the auction was largely non-remarkable, where it stood apart was that the Direct take down of 23.93% was the highest in history, with Indirects taking down 42.30%, above the 12M average of 42.3%, and the remaining 33.77% – the lowest since December 2010 – left to the Dealers, which will promptly flip this particular CUSIP WC0 back to the Fed.

And now, all eyes on the Fed, who will promise to continue monetizing as much 7 Year paper as the Treasury has the good grace of issuing.

The Fed first launched quantitative easing in November 2008 after efforts to boost the economy by lowering interest rates failed. The first programme of QE saw $600 billion injected into the economy by the Fed via mortgage-backed securities and government-sponsored enterprises. This then increased to $1.25 trillion as part of an expansion due to low initial impact. Again, the Fed tried QE in November 2010 with another $600 million invested in longer term Treasury securities. When this still failed to make a great enough impact, Ben Bernanke, chairman of the Federal Reserve, introduced a continuous QE programme, dubbed ‘QE Infinity’, which commits the Fed to buying up bonds at an alarming rate of $85 billion a month.

Quantitative easing, experts once assured us, would inspire the US economic recovery, leading the flagging economy to full health. But will this fiscal stimulus experiment instead drive the US economy to inflation and financial disaster? The Federal Reserve’s decision not to begin a tapering of its asset purchase programme signals a deeper dependency on intangible money printing. Last September’s third round of QE bond purchases were enacted in order to drive down interest rates, allowing businesses to borrow more easily, consequently boosting stock valuations. The QE addiction risks long-term hyperinflation and massive currency devaluation, fuelling market distortions and long-term reliance. Yet tapering may spark a climb in interest rates, prompting further – widespread – financial problems.

Saxo Capital Markets’ infographic draws attention to a mending US economy, with unemployment rates falling to 7.3% – albeit propped up by part-time workers – and Q2 GDP rising by 2.5% in 2013.Can the Fed kick the habit? These indications of growth prompted Bernanke to hint at QE tapering in June of this year, even stating that asset purchases (how the Fed has achieved QE) could come to an end if the US unemployment rate “is in the vicinity of 7%”. You can find more detailed figures, and see graphs of the changes and predictions, by checking the infographic.

Although QE tapering has been suggested, Bernanke has yet to announce a specific date when the artificially-sustained US economy will begin to be weaned off QE. Now, in October, the Fed has said that it will reduce asset purchases in early 2014, but they have laid out no specific timeline for this tapering. The Fed is also reluctant to make changes to Federal rates, announcing that they will remain at their current low levels. It is not until 2015 that they plan to start raising them again. You can see the expected pace of policy firming based on FOMC forecasts by viewing the graph in the infographic – the ‘long term’ forecast is for interest rates to return to 4%, but after how long?

There’s no doubt that QE Infinity has had an effect on a number of financial areas, including market rates. Ten Year US Treasury Yields have almost doubled in the last four months – you can see the visualised growth of US bond yields in the infographic – and this increase in growth could deter the Fed from tapering QE. Saxo Bank’s Head of FX Strategy, John Hardy, believes this may be the case and thinks that QE tapering could be “derailed by a weak US economy that can’t withstand the rise in interest rates we have already seen”.

Equity markets have also rallied in response to QE because the asset purchase programmes have invested money into private companies and their stocks have increased as a result. Savers are also choosing to invest in stocks whilst interest rates are low. When the FOMC decided not to start tapering QE, it meant equity markets continued to increase. You can track the value of the Dow Jones, DAX and FTSE over the last year in the infographic. If QE is encouraging the equity markets increase, will the Fed ever risk tapering?